


there's lots of world out there

by stray_dog_sick



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Birds, Developing Friendships, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), WALL-E (2008) References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23794378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stray_dog_sick/pseuds/stray_dog_sick
Summary: Ralph reached out, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Ralph sees the birds in your window."The other android looked over his shoulder with a smile. "Would Ralph like to see them properly?"
Relationships: Ralph & Rupert Travis
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	there's lots of world out there

**Author's Note:**

> remember when i had responsibilities and didn't spend all afternoon writing fic on my phone while crying over vampire diaries?
> 
> anyway if i don't post much it's because i'm working on a beast of a chaptered fic.
> 
> title from 'put on your sunday clothes' from the musical 'hello, dolly!'  
> (yes, the wall-e song)

Somewhere, on the third floor of New Jericho's hospital wing, there was an android who always had their window open. Ralph saw it every day when he was on his supervised walk around New Jericho. He thought it was strange - with the window open, you could hear the city, you could hear the  _ humans _ walking and talking. Why would any android want that?

Some days he saw birds fly in and out of the window. Mostly pigeons, but occasionally other kinds, or android birds. Hundreds of birds, and only in and out of that one window, out of everywhere in Jericho.

Ralph had met the android detective once. He was nice, he'd let Ralph stay in the house and he didn't catch Kara or the little girl. Ralph thought maybe he could be like the detective and find out who liked the humans and the birds.

Seven months after the Revolution, on his supervised walk, he saw an android wearing a cap. This was not unusual in June, as some deviants in the hospital wing had optical damage or temperature issues, but this deviant's hat was covered in bird feces.  _ That  _ was unusual.

After his walk he hid in the stairwell, outside the door to floor 3. His room was on floor 2, but hopefully the technicians wouldn't see him in places where he wasn't meant to be. He waited twenty minutes for the potential bird android to return, but eventually the hat came into view and stopped on the third floor.

He followed the android down the corridor to room 36. It was the room with the open window, Ralph had counted them long ago. He reached out, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Ralph sees the birds in your window."

The other android looked over his shoulder with a smile. "Would Ralph like to see them properly?"

Ralph nodded eagerly and watched as the man unlocked the door to his room, before quickly shoving his hands back in his pockets. 

The birds covering the floor of the room weren't a surprise, but the shelves on the walls were. Every inch was covered in something - bottle tops, cutlery, pens. Things androids had no reason to own.

"This is, uh, my stuff. And I'm Rupert," said the other android, moving towards the open window. "Sorry if you step in something."

"Where did you get these things?" Ralph asked before he'd processed the thought. He ran his fingers along the shelves of trinkets. The shinier items stood out to him more, and his vision was flooded with information as he looked. Birds pecked at his ankles but he was too distracted to care.

"Humans throw them away. So now they're mine," Rupert replied. Ralph could hear the rustling of a bag somewhere behind him, followed by bird calls. It must be feeding time for the pigeons.

Ralph scrunched his nose up in disgust. "Humans are awful. Why would you want their things?"

Footsteps crossed a room and Rupert plucked a silver lighter from Ralph's hand, flicking it open. "Because most of them aren't trash. Even the broken things can usually be fixed."

"Humans broke Ralph," he said quietly, bringing his now empty hand up to the scar on his cheek. Most of the damage had been repaired when he arrived at New Jericho, but there was still a small gap where the injury was too wide to be soldered shut.

"Well, I broke myself, I think," Rupert replied as he ignited the lighter. "But this stuff and the birds help me feel better."

Ralph turned away from the shelves to look at his new friend (well, he hoped they were friends, at least). "Ralph doesn't think you look damaged."

Rupert shrugged. "Apparently it isn't normal to live in a room covered in bird droppings, or to hoard things. Maybe there's nothing wrong with being a little broken, though."

"Maybe- maybe there is nothing wrong with the way Ralph talks? Or Ralph's face?" he asked in confusion. It was different to everything that he'd heard from the technicians.

"No, the third person thing is a little strange. I just don't think there's anything  _ bad  _ about it." Rupert closed the lid of the lighter suddenly and put it back on the shelf amongst the twelve others he owned. "Now, have you ever solved a Rubik's Cube?"


End file.
